R. Akiva Yosef Schlesinger, Tikkat Shofar on Shabbat & plagiarism (of course)

R. Akiva Yosef Schlesinger, Tikkat Shofar on Shabbat & plagiarism (of course)

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Menachem Mendel has a very good post discussing the issues and the history regarding the propriety of blowing the shofar on Rosh HaShana when it falls on Shabbat. A central figure in this discussion is R. Akiva Yosef Schlesinger. R. Schlesinger is perhaps best known for his book Lev haIvri a commentary on the last will and testament of the Hatam Sofer. In this book, which perhaps can be used to trace much of Haredi ideology today, the bulk is…

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Custom, Confusion, and Remembrances

Custom, Confusion, and Remembrances

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There is an excellent book in which a women describes growing up in Lithuana in the early and mid 1800’s. This book, Rememberings, originally written in German, has recently been translated into English. The author, Pauline Wengeroff, grew up in a traditional Orthodox home. She records a terrific amout of customs and how life was then. Eventually, due in part to the influence of the haskalah she, her husband and her family did not remain Orthodox. The book was fully…

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Machnisei Rachamim and Plagerism

Machnisei Rachamim and Plagerism

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This Saturday night many begin to say the Selichot prayers. There is one prayer in particular that has raised question throughout the centuries, Machnisei Rachmim. This prayer, which asks the angels to take our prayers is controversial. The reason for the controversy is that we generally avoid praying to angels, instead, we pray to God. Now, in truth there are many, many prayers that are either directly or indirectly addressed at angels, but Machnesi Rachmim is perhaps the most overt…

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The Hatam Sofer’s Humor

The Hatam Sofer’s Humor

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For Nachi and Matt and their love of noses. I heard the following from Dr. Leiman. In the Hatam Sofer’s yeshiva in Pressburg, it was the custom for all to wear hats while learning. This included fairly young boys. One day a ba’al ha’bus (a community member not part of the Yeshiva) came in and saw a young boy learning. As he was a youngster, his hat was a bit oversized. The ba’al ha’bus went over to him and said…

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Tikkun Soferim – Later Amendations to the Torah?

Tikkun Soferim – Later Amendations to the Torah?

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For the full recovery of HaRav R. J. Wasserstein I heard a very interesting speech this weekend [which S. had previously discussed here as well], and I have decided to expand some on it. In this weeks Torah reading we were treated to a rather strange occurrence. Although, throughout the Torah, there are words read different than they are written, at least in the Torah (Nakh provides plentiful examples of significantly altered words), these are minor corrections. Most of these…

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The Custom of Reciting l’Dovid HaShem Ori

The Custom of Reciting l’Dovid HaShem Ori

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A fairly universal custom is to recite the passage from Psalms l’Dovid Hashem Ori twice a day during the month of Elul. A question which has received renewed scrutiny recently is where this custom came from. The most obvious answer is the work Hemdat Yamim. This work, however, is rather controversial. Many claim this book (which has many other well-accepted customs) was written by Nathan of Gaza, the prophet of the infamous false-Messiah Shabbetai Zevi. Thus, if the Hemdat Yamim…

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